Author

N. M. BHANDARI & D. N. TRIKHA University of Roorkee, India

Abstract

Complete masonry buildings can be analysed by the conventional finite element method. Since it is impracticable and expensive to distinguish each brick and mortar joint separately, a super masonry element is proposed. The elastic properties of the masonry composite are determined either experimentally or analytically. Results of two finite element formulations have been compared based on assuming membrane type and flexural-cum-membrane type actions for the super elements. It is shown that the simpler membrane type analysis gives more accurate results for the Hendry’s five-storey masonry building.